Leaders Work Together to Protect the World’s Precious Forests

Watch this video to learn about the choices world leaders must make to save the world's forests.

Joint effort for the future of forests

Leaders from 30 countries in the Amazon, Borneo,Mekong and Congo Basin met this week in Congo, Africa at the Brazzaville Tropical Forest Summit to find shared solutions to save their forests and support the fight against the devastating consequences of climate change. The conclusion of the meeting revealed progress toward sustainable management and restoration of forests through an agreement on a joint declaration.

The discussions will continue at the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) meeting in November 2011, and next year’s Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil. At this time, leaders will have committed to an official cooperative agreement on forest preservation.

The forests in the Amazon, Borneo, Mekong and Congo Basin are crucial because:

They account for 80% of the world’s tropical forests

Are home to more than 300 million people

Only 18% are protected areas

Only 14% are designated for conservation

But millions of acres of forests continue to be lost to logging and agriculture, even though the true value of the standing forests is far greater than the economic benefit of the alternative land use. The people, places and species all depend on solutions for a sustainable future.